Circular loom and the production of fabrics thereon



Aug; 6, 1929. T. H. JONES CIRCULAR LOOM AND THE PRODUCTION OF FABRICS THEREQ N Filed Opt. 18, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 iv EEQMXR Allg- 1929 T. H. JONES ,723,426 V ION O I Filed 001;. 18, 1 923 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 v Aug. 6, 1929.

T. H.'JONES CIRCULAR LOOM AND THE PRODUCTION OF FABRICS THEREON Filed 061'.- 18, 1923 4 sheets sheet 5 Aug 5, 1929- I T. H. JONES I 1,723,426

CIRCULAR LOOM AND THE PRODUCTION OF FABRICS THEREON Filed Oct. 18, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 5 55 gain/Ton.

ATroRA/Ex Patented Aug. 6, 1929.

UNITED STATES THOMAS H. JONES, 0F NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND.

CIRCULAR LOOM AND THE PRSDUCTION 0F FABRICS THEREON.

Application filed October 18, 1923, Serial No. 669,347, and in Great Britain October 20, 1922.

This invention has relation to circular looms and to the productimi of fahric thereon, and has i'or its object; to generally improve and simplify the construction and operation o l? said looms.

The principal it' ture oi the invention consists in the protision in a loom of a series of warp carriers which are adapted to operat v sequentially either separately or in pairs or groups to form the requisite shed of varn.

rhnother feature of the invention consists in forming: the shed. of yarn in a loom by means of a series 01? warp carrier members which are successively operated si' gly or in pairs or 'roups by suitable cams.

A further teature of the invention r in forming the shed. o1" yarn in a h means of a series of sliding Warp ':a-riers which are individuall andsequentially reciproeated either singly or in pairs or groups by the action thereon oi? suitable cams.

Another feature olthe invention consists in the combination in a loom of Warp carriers individually and sequentially operated either singlyor in pairs or groups to term the required shed of yarn, and means whereby one or more We a laying shuttles is or are traversed or projected to lay the 'Wc'l ts in the shed by virtue of a continuous pressure being exerted upon the tail of such shuttle or shuttles.

rides Another feature consists in propelli or traversing the weft sluittle by causi the series of Warp carriers il'm-iniug the. so d to bear upon or nip the tail portion oft said shuttle during the movement oil? said Warp carriers.

A further feature of the invention-consists in the combination with the succe: ly operated Warp carriers torniin the of yarn of a series of individually and sequentially operated elements which beat up the well" or wefts'into the shed. I

A further feature resides in utilizing the imlividually and. sequentially operated warp carriers to beat up the We'lit or Wetts into the shed.

A further feature of the invention conin the provision of means whereby the series of Warp carriers are operated by means of cam elements so as to move adja; cent arps or adjacent pairs or groups'ol warps in opposite directions and form the shed of yarn for the reception ofthe wettor Wetts.

A still further feature oil the invention consists in the provision of means whereby the series of Warp carriers are operated by means of cam elements in such a manner as to move the warps sequentially or in pairs or groups alternately in opposite directions in forming the shed of yarn.

For the purpose of more fully describing the nature of this invention, reference will now made to the accompanying drawin 's wherein Fig. l, is a halt sectional elevation of a circular loom in accordance With this invention.

Fi, is a plan of part oi said. loom.

Fi i i." a development of a suitable cam box for use in the loom.

F 1, is a side View of the Wettshuttle.

F. 5, an end View of the shuttle.

-. 6, is a. plan of said shuttle. 7, illustrates one form of slider employed.

Fig. 8, illustrates a modified form of slider.

Fig. 9, is a part sectional elevation illustrating a standard for supporting ring members beneath which the warps are guided.

Fig. 10, illustrates in part s ctional elevation the action of the sliders in beating up the Weft into the shed,and means for taking up slack in the Warp threads.

F ig. 11, illustrates in a plan a modified method. of beating up the Weft.

liig. 12, illustrates in elevation a hinged door for the cam box, the door being shown open in dotted lines.

Fig. 3, illustrates the sliding Warp earriers fully opened to form the shed of Warp for the reception of the Weft.

F lg. 14, illustrates the sliders brought into the aligned or intermediate position, after the Weft has been beaten up into the shed.

. Fig. 15, illustrates the sliders crossed so as to bind the last previously laid Weft in posi tion and again open the warp shed for the reception of another Weft.

F 16, illustrates the sliders in the position in Which same act upon the laid Weft to beat same up into the warp shed.

Fig. 17, illustrates in elevation electrically operable means for automatically stopping the machine should any one of the warps become broken.

Fig. 18, is a plan view of part of the device shown in Figure 17.

@ne convenient method t carrying out the present invention will now be described by way of example. A vertical cylinder 1 is formed along the whole surface of its outer wall with closely disposed vertical slots or flat recesses within which slots the flat stems of sliding members 8 are accommodated, said stems having a substantially close sliding tit within said slots 2.

Each slider 3 may have fixedly secured thereto or integrally formed thereon at'its upper end a specially designed head a while on the stems of said sliders suitable butts 5 are provided which engage with cam grooves 6 formed in a cam cylinder 7 rotata bly accommodated around the cylinder 1 carrying the sliders 3.

The head portions l oi the sliders 3 may be in the nature of fiat-metal plates which proiect at right angles from the upper end of the stem radially into the cylinder 1, the flatfaces of said heads being vertically disposed.

These head portions l oi: the sliders 3 are rounded off or pointed in a vertical plane at their inner ends, as at l i. e., those ends which are disposed adjacent to the upper bevelled face or edge of the annular ring 8 mounted above the cylinder accommodating the sliders, the said heads 4 being conveniently reduced in thickness towards their inner ends l.

Each slider head has a substantially se1nicircular recess 9 cut in both its upper and lower edges, said recesses being provided vertically opposite to each other conveniently at a position near the outer ends of the heads. I

The butts 5 on the slider stems are alternately high and low butts, that is to say, a

slider with a high butt is located between two low butted sliders throughout the circumference of the slider cylinder, and in the cam cylinder 7 two cam grooves 6 constituting one set of cams are provided, one accommodating the high butts and the other the lower butts.

The cam grooves 6 of a set of cams are so designed that during the rotation of the cam cylinder 7- the sliders 3 having the one type of butts, say the high butts, are pressed upwardly, while the other or low butted sliders are displacet downwardly. In this position the lower semi-circular recess 9 in the high butted slider head is disposed in a plane above the upper recess in the low butted slider head. The cam operating upon the butts is so designed as to always retain a short series of adjacently situated sliders in the raised and lowered position, and in this position the oppositely disposed semi-circu lar recesses 9 in the slider heads 4 form what is virtually a tubular passage intermediate said heads, such passage being in parallel alignment with the circular wall of the cylinder 1. lVithin the tubular passage thus formed a weft shutter 10 is assembled, said shuttle being of approximately torpedo shape with rounded or tapering ends and of arcuate configuration.

The shuttle 10 may be constructed from sheet metal rounded at its one. end and pointed at its other end as shown in Figures to (3. The centre of the plate 10 may be removed, a port-ion of the metal being bent inwardly each end to constitute two iges 11 between wlich the weft supply 2 is adapted to be retained. This may be of approved type, say for example in m of a bobbin. the ends of the spindle cl which are received within slots 13 in the flanges 11 and retained by a pivoted catch let.

In the operation of the loom the cams 6 upon the butts 5 of the sliders 8 at the .d of the shuttle to gradually bring into a]. alignmentthe slider heads a and ne upon the tapered tail end 10 and nultaneously open said slider heads in front of the forward end of said shuttle, and the pressure brought to bear on the tapered tail by the slider heads l will have the effectot continuously propelling the shuttle in the direction of arrow X Fig. 2, in a circular path between said slider heads as they open, the shuttle during its travel laying the weft 15 in the shed of the warps 16.

During the rotation of the cam cylinder 7 the opposite reciprocation or" the desired number of sliders 3 by the cams 6 opens the warps 16 in opposite directions to the position shown in Figure 13 so as to form a shed tor the reception of the weft 15 carried by the shuttle, the design of the cams being such as to bring the sliders 3 into the aligned position l l) after the laying of the weft and subsequently cause said sliders to cross each other to again open the warps and form another shed for receiving the next weft as shown in Figure 15.

The slider heads at are each provided at the outer end with a perforation 17 through which the warp taread 1G is fed from the warp beam 18 or other source of supply to the inside of the cylinder.

The closing or bringing into alignment of the slider heads in addition to propelling the shuttle to lay the wettmay also function to beat such wettinto the shed. The latter operation is automatically eltected by the inner ends a ot the slider heads pressing in opposite directions, i. e., upwardly and downwardly, upon the weft thread 15 laid, wl ich inner ends of said heads by reason of their rounded or tapered shape, press the weft into the shed immediately same has been laid; see Figure 10.

In a modified method of beating up the wett into the shed, a spring or resilient member 19 having a curved or inclined hearing face may be secured and extend inwardly and rearwardly from the rear flange 11 ot' the shuttle so as to press upon the weft 15 leaving the shuttle, as shown inFigure 11.

Conveniently the weft may be guided from the shuttle through an eye furnished in a cranked arm 21 projecting from the forward flange of theplate 10.

Any suitable number of cams may be provided in the cam cylinder, and the design of said. cams may be varied to vary the particular pattern of .tabric produced, it being understood that a wettdaying shuttle is turnished in conjunction with each cam motion.

For example, as illustrated on the drawings two cams may be provided located at diametrically opposite positions outside the cam cylinder 7, the one cam being adapted to operate to raise the high butled sliders and lower the low buttcd sliders during the formation of the shed, while the second cam operates to lower the high butted sliders and raise the low butts. In this way, the weftworking in conjunction with the second cam will be laid under those warps over which the first weft is laid, and over those warps beneath which the said first weft passes.

To assist in guiding the weft shuttle or shuttles, a series oi thin upstanding divisions may be formed on the upper bevelled ace of the slider cylinder, one of said divisions being located between each slider head, and in each division a part circular or other shaped slot is cut in circular alignment with the send-circular shuttle accommodating recesses in the slider heads. It will be appreciated that the shuttle will travel along the aligned slots in said divisions.

IV hen the slider heads are returned to their normal position after the passage of the weft shuttle there is a tendency torthe warps to become slack, and to obviate this tendency a suitable presser member 22 may be furnished carried by a wire or strip 23 secured to and extending radially outward from the outer face of the cam cylinder 7, said presser member bearing resiliently upwards upon the warps 16 and maintaining same taut.

The presser 22 is preferably spoon shaped and may operate upon the warps at a position betwecntwo parallelly disposed ring members 24 beneath which the warps are led to the sliders 3. The rings 24 are supported from the bed 25 of the machine in any suitable manner, such as by standards 26 having at the upper end arms 27 to which the rings may be screwed or otherwise secured. To the underside of the arm 27 elongated strips or plates 28 may advantageously be secured, adapted to bridge the distance intermediate the warps withdrawn one beam 18 and the next adjacent bean, so as to guide the spoon-shaped presser 22 from one set of warps to another.

It will be appreciated that any convenient number of beams 18 may be located around the loom and. all. of said beams may be suitably geared for simultaneous operation, if positive let oil means are utilized.

In order to permit of the sliders 3 and weft shuttle 10 being assembled in and removed from the operative position, a part 29 of the cam cylinder 7 constructed in the form of a door hingedv at 30 and having any suitable fastening 31. The position of this door is indicated in dotted lines in Figure 3, and is shown open in dotted lines in Figure 12. I

W here the sliders 3 are not to be employed for beating up the weft into the shed of warps, such sliders may be constructed without the inwardly projecting portion of the head 4 (see Fig. 8).

Means are also incorporated for autonuitieaily stepping the machine should any one ot the warp threads become broken. Conveniently such automatic stop motion is electrically operated, and comprises a series of l'iook-glike members 32 which are BUS. pended one from each warp 16 at a position. intermediate the warp beams 18 and the sliders 3, said books 32 being connected to plate portions 33 which are slidably accommodated within slots in ametal bar 34 forming a guide for said plates At a short distance beneath the guide bar 3&1 is a horizontal contact bar 35, said bar being electrically connected to a battery 36 from which battery a further lead extends to a suitable clutch 37. From the clutch 37 a return. leadiextends to the slotted guide bar 34. The action is such that when a warp breaks, the hook 32 suspended therefrom falls by gravity and the plate makes contact with the bar In this way the electrical cir-' cuit is completed from the bar 35 through battery 36, clutch 37 and back to guide bar 34, and the clutch 37 is so operated as to be thrown out of action and stop the machine.

In a modified arrangement the slots or recesses 2 provided on the outer wall of the slider cylinder 1 for the accommodation of the sliders 3 may be dispensed with, and said sliders instead of being spaced one from another may be disposed side by side hearing one against the other with an annular space intermediate the slider cylinder and cam cylinder. In such arrangement the cam or cams operating the high butted sliders may be rotated in an opposite direction to the lower butted cam or cams.

It is to be understood that the construc tions and arrangement of the loom and the operation thereof may be varied in many ways within the scope of the present invention.

I claim 1. In a circular loom, a circular series of warp carriers, rotatable cam cylinder arranged to act upon the warp carriers and move them to form the requisite shed of yarn, means for laying a weft thread in the shed tormech and means carried by the cam cylinder arran ed to apply tension to the warp threads directly after the warp carriers are moved following the laying of the weft.

2. In a circular loom circular series of warp thread carriers, a rotatable cam cylinder arranged to act upon such carriers and move them to form the requisite shed oi yarm means tor laying a weft thread in the shed formed, a circular ring across wl the weft threadspass to the warp carriers, and means carried by the cam cylinder arranged to bear upon the warp thread: adjacent to the said rin and ap tension thereto directly after the warp ear moved following the laying of the arch.

3. in circular loom, a circular series of warp carriers, a rotatable ca cylinder arranged to act upon the warp carriers and move them sequentially to form the requisite shed of yarm means tor laying a weft thread when the shed is termed, a plurali y or" sources of supply for the warp threads from which said threats pass to the warp carriers a pair or" rings concentrically di, posed outside the cam cylinder across which the war threads pass to the warp carriers,

a tension device carried by the cam cylinder arranged to bear upon the warp threads between the concentric rings and apply tension thereto directly after the warp carriers are moved following the laying of the weft, and spacingplates arranged to bridge the spaces between the warp threads supplied from differentsources and' to guide the said tension device from one set of warp threads to another.

l. In a circular loom, a series of vertically disposed sl' ling warp carriers rotating can s operating on the carriers to reciprocate them to form the warp sheds, and a plurality of wettshuttles, the reciprocating arp carriers being arranged to act on the shuttles to propel them and lay the weil'ts in the saeds the warp carriers being formed with vertically alined recesses arranged to constitute a channel for the passage of the shuttles as the warp carriers are moved into position to term the warp sheds.

5. In a circular loom, a series of vertically disposed sliding warp carriers a rotating vertical cylinder carr ing cams operating on the carriers to reciprocate them and form the -arp sheds, a plurality of w tt shuttles, the reciprocating warp carriers being arranged to actupon the shuttles and propel them and lay the wetts in one sheds, and means for taking up slack and applying tension to the warp threads such tensioning means being carried by the rotating cam cylinder and arranged to follow the shuttles in their movements and to act upon. the warp threads in succession following the laying T. H. JOIES.

of the weft threads. 

